Help? Please?
by Rill of Fantasia
Summary: Hermione must ask for help. With her homework. From Ron. Takes place somewhere in PoA.


_Harry Potter_ and all related characters and concepts belong to J. K. Rowling.

Hermione needed help. Unfortunately, the only other person in the Common Room was Ron, who was studiously ignoring her.

"Ronald…"

"What? Are you ready to apologize yet?"

"Ronald, just because…" she stopped herself. She had been about to say "Just because you can't keep your rat safe doesn't mean I have to apologize." But she needed his help. "I'm sorry." She wasn't, not really, but there was nothing to be done about it if she wanted his help.

"Thank you!" He turned back to whatever he had been doing before, obviously still mad at Hermione.

"Ronald, please—"

"No! Your bloody cat is bloody trying to kill my rat!"

"Ron, I said I'm sorry! Please, I need your help on my homework for Muggle Studies!"

That got Ron's attention. Hermione never needed help. The only time she ever even asked questions in class was to show off how much she already knew. But she was his friend. Besides, having Hermione owe him a favor would not be a bad thing. Especially as exams got closer. "What is it?"

"It's for Muggle Studies. I need to—"

"You said that already. Why are you taking that class anyway? And isn't it at the same time as Care of Magical Creatures?

"I need to explain why muggles need electricity," she finished, ignoring Ron's other questions.

"Because they don't have magic! Because they're muggles! Really, Hermione, it's not a hard question!" he laughed. "Muggles need electricity to do what we do the normal way!

"They? Normal? Ronald, my _parents_ are muggles!"

"Oh. Yeah."

"Please, I need your help. I can't get this done, and it's due tomorrow!"

"Why can't you?"

"Because it's such an obvious question, how could I possibly write a full page on it?"

"Are you serious? You can't answer a question because the answer is too obvious? I wish I had your problem."

"Ron, why do you need a wand?"

"What? I don't, I have a new one."

"No, why do you need a wand at all?"

"Umm, because I couldn't do anything without it?"

"Yes, Ronald. Muggles need electricity like wizards need wands. Without it, they're helpless!"

"So why are you asking me why muggles need electricity? You seem to know."

"Because I can't say why they do on my own. "I've lived with electricity all my life! If I want light, I turn on an electric lamp! If I want to be warm, I get an electric heater! If I want to listen to music, I turn on my electric radio!"

"Wicked."

"What?"

"You have a real radio? And it works? I'll have to tell Dad! You have a radio! Don't you realize how cool that is?"

"Ronald, it's a radio. I turn it on. I listen to music. It's not that exciting."

"But, how does it work? How do you tell it what to do? How do you make it play the music you want? You have the coolest life ever."

Hermione could only stare.

"Hermione, don't you get it? Everything you have, your whole world, it's so _cool!_ I mean, you know how to turn a lamp on and make a radio work and talk on a tele, teley, tela, telephone, that's the word! I've never done anything like that."

"But it's just normal life."

"Normal life? Hermione, my dad would give his right arm to know how airplanes stay up—_without magic!_—and to you, it's just normal! Don't you see how amazing it all is?"

"Amazing?"

"Yes, amazing! Hermione, with electricity muggles can do nearly everything that we can—"

"Ron, that's it!"

"What?"

"With electricity, muggles can do nearly everything wizards can! Ron, you're a genius!"

"Did I just hear that? From you?"

"Yes. But Ron, that's how I'll start my paper! I'll say that with electricity, muggles can do nearly everything wizards can. Let me see… they can make light or heat, music, they can move things, this will work! Then of course I'll have to talk about how they couldn't do any of this without electricity, or at least about how it would take a lot more work. I can do this. I'll have my thesis paragraph, then in my first supporting paragraph, I will…"

As she continued, Ron could only think about how bizarre it was that Hermione seemed to actually enjoy writing papers. Almost as bizarre as her not caring how airplanes stayed up.

"Oh, and Ron? Thank you."

He grinned.

If you enjoyed this story, please review. If you did not enjoy this story, please review. Positive feedback makes me want to write more. Negative feedback makes me a better writer. So either way, don't hold back.


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